Hey all, I thought this was a hoot (and reminded me about the PBS children's show host who was fired for fake PSAs she'd done in her past) and thought I'd share it.

As Halo and some of the other folks who have visited London may know, the announcements done over the PA system in the Underground are in a soothing female voice, voiced by a woman by the name of Emma Clarke. On a lark, she posted some spoof Tube announcements on her website for people's entertainment. Her employers, Transport for London, were not amused and sacked her last week, but the spoof announcements remain, hosted on a few mirrors as her own website is crashing due to traffic:

http://www.welcometowallyworld.com/frontpage/2007/11/27/the-voice-of-the-london-underground.html

The voice files can be heard at the linked site. My personal favorites:

"Do not drop litter on the train. Please use the tramps (tramps referring to 'bums' on their side of the pond, not 'ladies of easy virtue') provided."

"Passengers are reminded that a smile is actually a friendship signal - not a sign of weakness."

Regards,
Nydia

Probably a derail, sorry.

I spent several weeks in London not long ago and I don't recall any soothing female voice in the tube, though I will admit, the Brits are very quiet when they're having to just stand around and wait for something. Eerily quiet compared to the subways in NYC or DC.

it depends on time of day. you won't hear a word in the metro in dc before 10 am. 2 in the morning however you're in for many a loud drunk college kid.

I think this is really dumb. How can you get fired for something you do outside of work that doesn't directly affect your job?

Kelraz, they could claim that she damaged their "image" as her voice is distinctive, and is representative of that system.
Regardless, they shouldn't have fired her, as I'm sure she will lawyer up, and probably win a big settlement.

Furt would know better, but I think there is some sort of a proprietary clause in much "voice work", meaning that the voice recognized for a specific product or agency is prohibited from certain activities during the life of the contract.

I know Harry Shearer was once being interviewed on the local radio station and when asked to do a voice from the Simpsons was unable to due to the contract he had, which prohibited him from using any of those Simpson voices for any other endeavour outside the show itself.

Completely off topic, but nice rep Byli! :D